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With 1,700 varieties of young plants in the assortment, New Hampshire grower Doug Cole, owner of D.S. Cole Growers gets a good idea of what is hot and happening in the market. Which varieties are trendy? what has been the major challenge over the last year? and how what are the expectations for 2021? In this article, he tells us all.
Doug Cole in the greenhouse
One of the largest Rex Begonia propagators in the US
But before we start with discussing the trends, first a bit more information on DS Cole. Their young plant department developed around 1990. Currently, over 70 percent of his sales consists of young plants. "The remaining consists of finished plants which fill the space during seasons with low demand for young plants." D.S. Cole is specialized in the young plant production of Rex Begonias, and has become one of the largest propagators of this series in the US. Their strategy is to develop year round demand for young plants. "And by offering succulents, cactus and houseplants, they are moving to a year-round program," Cole adds.
Labor, one of the major challenges in 2020
So, what was the major challenge in 2020? According to Cole, for the last few years labor has been the difficult issue and particularly this year. For spring of 2020, it was an even bigger problem, he explains. "We would lose someone who didn’t want to be around other people due to potential virus spread. We would then hire more people, but it was not easy and training was difficult since we were in the middle of the busy season."
Since May, demand higher then ever
According to Cole until the month of May, growers were uncertain if they would be able to sell product due to Covid-19. However, it quickly turned around as soon as the government allowed garden centers to be open. "The demand was higher than any year we know of."
Second wave - main concern: lack of flights to bring plants into the country
Fortunately, the demand is still high and D.S. Cole is in good shape. However, their main concern at the moment is the lack of flights to bring plants into the country. In the US, we are currently having a large Covid outbreak. Every day is a new surprise with new rules in different states, and the concern that an employee may need to quarantine."
Popular items: Begonia, cyclamen and thunbergia
When looking at the varieties and the increase in demand and popularity of the varieties, Cole notices that the begonias, cyclamen and thunbergias are the ones that are on the rise. "We specialize in Rex Begonias and the demand continues to increase on all varieties. The most popular is still the older variety Escargot (known as Princess of Hanover in Europe)." Nice to know, next year they will offer ‘Red Escargot’, a variety that has a similar swirl leaf shape as the traditional Escargot. "I'm very excited and have high expectations for that variety."
For color products, he has seen an increase in demand for Cyclamen this season. "Varieties such as Morel’s Indiaka series and Schoneveld’s Djix series are getting a lot of attention due to their interesting flower patterns." In the spring, the different colors of Thunbergia continue to be extremely popular, and especially yellow, he adds.
When looking at the petunias, despite the volume in sales tending to remain steady, there is a shift in demand within this category. "Danziger’s Queen of Hearts has become a bestseller for the last few years, followed closely by Selecta’s Night Sky."
High hopes for 2020
At this time, the demand is still high and Cole has high hopes for 2021. "From our garden center customers we see an increase in demand for all house plants. And for coming spring, we are all hoping for high sales. We expect another year with a high demand for plants since many consumers are spending more time at home planting gardens and large display pots. As of now, our bookings for young plants is well above our past averages. What will be interesting is whether or not this is due to our customers ordering earlier, or if it also means a total increase for the season."


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A PR email reminder to reserve Bit.Trip Saga and Bit.Trip Complete, as well as a pre-order bonus reminder.
I need Europe version FAST!!!! :)
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.

domain: news


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How to Read Google’s Q1 Results
Google is coming out with its Q1 results in a few minutes. Google’s numbers used to be fairly straightforward, but recently they got a bit more complex; last quarter we saw a bunch of news outlets, and presumably other people, get a bit flummoxed when the results first came out.
So maybe these hints will help. Warning! I’m just a typer, offering free advice. So if anything goes wrong here, I can’t offer you a refund. That said:
- Google will report a “consolidated revenue” number, likely something in the $14 billion range. Ignore that number. That’s because Google’s total revenue now includes results from its Motorola unit, which Wall Street doesn’t really care about. This also goes for year-over-year comparisons for consolidated revenue — Google didn’t own Motorola a year ago, so noting that it grew 35 percent year over year, or whatever, isn’t relevant.
- Do pay attention to what Google calls “Google revenues.” That’s the “real” Google, which various analysts also refer to as “core Google” — i.e., that’s Google’s ad business, plus a bit of money from stuff like Google Play sales and Nexus tablets.
- But wait! You’re not done yet. Now you have to subtract the amount of money Google spent to get that ad money — its TAC, or traffic acquisition costs.
- Now you have Google’s net revenue — in other words, its “real” revenue. At least in Wall Street’s eyes. It will likely be in the $11 billion range.
- If you care about Wall Street estimates, you can also pay attention to operating income for “core Google,” as well as Google’s “non-GAAP” earnings per share for the whole company. Those aren’t Google’s “real” earnings, but they’re the ones the Street cares about.
Got it? Okay.
Here’s what J.P. Morgan’s Doug Anmuth is looking for, along with some consensus estimates, via Bloomberg. I’ll be back online to start sorting through the numbers at 4 pm ET; see you then:


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Verizon Ships Some Pre-Ordered Samsung Galaxy S3 Units Early
Verizon has stood out among the four major wireless carriers in the United States by not promising to deliver Samsung’s Galaxy S3 by June, instead giving a July availability date for the South Korean manufacturer’s latest flagship handset.
Given this, and the reports of slipping ship dates for pre-orders, it’s been widely expected that Verizon will fall victim to the same sort of supply problems that befell AT&T and Sprint’s release of the Galaxy S3.
As such, the most recent news could come as a surprise to plenty of people: Droid Life and Phandroid reported that Galaxy S3 units pre-ordered on Verizon will reach their buyers starting on July 5. The carrier has sent out shipment notifications to customers who ordered the device last month, saying that they should expect their new handsets by June 5 or 6.
However, not everyone has been lucky enough to get their Galaxy S3s early. It seems like even people who’ve put in their orders within hours of the pre-orders’ opening in June haven’t gotten any shipment notifications. Still, for the lucky few, Verizon has apparently over-delivered on their promised launch date.
Consumers who passed on the pre-order opportunity could still get the Samsung Galaxy S3 on Verizon’s network starting July 10. While both the 16GB version and the 32GB version – priced at $200 and $250, respectively – will be available online, only the model with the smaller capacity could be bought at retail locations.
Samsung aims to sell 10 million Galaxy S3s worldwide by the end of the month. The handset is undoubtedly the must-have smartphone of the moment, and it should be well-positioned to battle Apple for the hearts and wallets of buyers when it releases its latest iPhone later this year.


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News By Tag
News By Place
Enmark Stations, Inc. Hires New Director of Marketing
Enmark Stations, Inc. is pleased to announce that Matt Clements has joined the company as director of marketing.
Clements comes to Enmark from Friendly Express, Inc. in Waycross, Ga., where he served as director of marketing. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores. A native of St. Simons Island, Ga., Clements received a bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Georgia.
“I’m very excited to be a part of an organization that openly embraces the changing dynamics of this industry and continues down a path of growth for the future,” said Clements. “There’s a lot of positive momentum at Enmark, and I’m happy to join a hard-working team with a common goal, which is to effectively serve our markets in whatever capacity best suits our customers and communities.”
Founded as Interstate Stations in 1963 by Robert Demere, Enmark Stations, Inc. is a family-run business committed to offering its customers top-notch service and superior products. Today the Savannah-based company, which will celebrate its 50-year anniversary in 2013, operates 62 stores in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina that offer high quality and competitively priced gasoline, food and beverages, cigarettes, lottery services and more. Enmark’s gasoline is filtered through a trademarked Double Filtered System, resulting in gasoline and diesel that is clean and 100-percent water-free. Enmark customers can save up to $.10 per gallon by using an Enmark Cash Card, a reloadable stored-value card that can be used directly at the pump. For more information on Enmark Stations, Inc., please call 912-236-1331 or visit http://www.enmarkenjoy.com.


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Tourism in Christchurch, New Zealand, is apparently flagging because the city is too English. The city has adopted English traditions like red buses, English street names and a statue of Captain Robert Falcon Scott of the Antarctic. But the city council, which is considering a new corporate logo, has been urged to abandon its English image in favour of the slogan ‘Fresh Each Day’. What will be ‘fresh’ has not been disclosed, but maybe the good folk (and sheep) of Christchurch intend turning the entire place into a giant supermarket. How American!
Our Creative says that the supermarket’s value range is designed to be “honest, simple and straightforward”.
2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremony production designer Misty Buckley reflects on how she tackled the historical complexity of the city.
Morrama designed practical packaging with a “simple minimal aesthetic” for the restaurant chain.
Its new look is designed to be more legible and coincides with relaunched website, which aims to be more intuitive.


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He called it a program! Wow, that’s a change. Greg Davis, vice president and general manager of Dell’s Americas Channels Group, told me last year at the Ziff Davis Enterprise Channel Summit in Chicago, “We’re not creating a program. We’re creating a value proposition for solution providers that want to engage with Dell, and some elements to the engagement structure.” At least that’s how I remember it. Well, at another Channel Summit in February, this time in Dallas, I heard Davis refer to Dell’s PartnerDirect as a “program.” In fact, in his keynote, he said the word “program” many times. He mentioned Dell is engaging about 30,000 solution providers worldwide and that with the acquisition of EqualLogic, Dell believes it will have a strong program to engage and empower partners.
This isn’t the only change in Davis and Dell we’ve seen in the last six months. Dell also launched a partner portal that includes marketing tools, financing and ordering capabilities, a managed services training path, and deal registration. But what really turned my head during Davis’ keynote was when he mentioned Dell will be compensation-neutral with the direct-sales team in 2008.
My jaw nearly dropped as he explained sales representatives will make as much through a partner as they would selling direct. Now that’s a big change. We see companies here in The Valley that have been working with partners for years, producing upward of 25 percent of the overall company revenue through partners that don’t have a compensation-neutral program.
Dell’s come a long way in the terms it uses to talk about partnering, but the vendor has a long way to go before it embraces the channel, if that ever happens. For one thing, Dell must stop thinking about the channel as a customer and start treating it as a partner. Responding to a question about driving loyalty with solution providers, Davis said, “I wouldn’t give a quota to a customer.” The more-successful channel vendors embrace solution providers, treating them like an extension of their sales, marketing and support organizations.
Dell also has some work to do on its managed services message. Considering the vendor bought Silverback and Everdream, no one is surprised Dell is building a managed services offering. Davis confirmed in no uncertain terms Dell will sell managed services directly. Still fuzzy is how Dell will pull the Silverback and Everdream teams together to build a managed services program to support the 182 managed services providers already engaged with Dell. Hmm, how do you balance that with your direct managed services model?
Certainly, changing a machine as huge as Dell, steeped in such a direct culture, has to feel like an uphill battle. Davis has done an admirable job—he got a compensation-neutral plan in place within six months. It will be interesting to see how some of the new channel management blood mixes with the old Dell direct team.
Bob Skelley and the EqualLogic team will be a pro-partner boost. Another will be that longtime channel executive Donna Troy has landed at Dell. Troy, most recently the executive vice president of global SME channels at SAP, is a channel champion and will add an interesting mix to the Dell culture. We look forward to watching what results from the changes to Dell’s channel management, partners and the “program.”
Diane Krakora is president and CEO of Amazon Consulting. She can be reached at email@example.com.


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|By Business Wire||
|January 27, 2014 04:30 AM EST||
KPN, the leading telecommunications and ICT service provider in the Netherlands, and Dyzle BV, the global leader in measuring and analyzing business process data for the cold chain in real-time, have announced a collaboration to offer an integrated platform for monitoring, tracking, and providing real-time data analytics and visualization for the food and pharmaceutical industries.
The collaboration is part of KPN’s innovation drive, helping customers in the food and pharmaceutical sectors to improve their core business activity and efficiency and to comply with health regulations. Dyzle’s platform is a cloud-based solution that collects data such as temperature, humidity, energy consumption and CO2, analyzes that data, and makes it visible on a personal dashboard accessible securely over the web from any internet-enabled device. The main purpose of delivering this data is to help customers provide undisputable evidence and proof of product quality for temperature-sensitive products.
Jimmy Wind, Managing Director of KPN M2M, said, “This partnership is in line with our strategy of growth through value added services, and innovating in sectors like machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies, which are now being more widely adopted in almost every industry sector. By combining our M2M and RFID asset tracking solutions with Dyzle’s monitoring and analytics platform, we will truly be able to move up the value chain in our service offering to business customers. Not only can we track the location of a product in a logistic chain, but also we collect the environmental conditions during its shipment.”
Bert Zandhuis, CEO of Dyzle, added, “We are extremely pleased that KPN chose to adopt our platform and combine it with their products and services. This integrated platform offers customers a solution to a growing industry trend: that of huge amounts of data being collected, and needing to make sense of that data relevant to the business. That’s where we have considerable experience, where we measure and present data on personal dashboards to provide a snapshot at any time, or to warn of any excursions in real-time. This is essential for our customers to demonstrate proof of product quality and integrity.”
The partnership between KPN and Dyzle serves a market need for what one analyst firm calls ‘one-stop shop application enablement platforms’. According to ABI Research, these platforms ease data extraction and normalization activities so that M2M applications and enterprise systems can easily consume machine data. The firm says that application enablement platforms will be a ‘critical and necessary’ enabler in the use of M2M in small, medium and larger businesses. In particular, it says that adding value added service capabilities is almost a necessity to avoid commoditization pressures and capture revenues in the largest segment of the M2M value chain.
ABI Research also forecasts that the M2M analytics industry will grow 53 percent over the next five years, to US$14.3 billion in 2018. The forecast includes revenue segmentation for the five components that together enable analytics to be used in M2M services: data integration, data storage, core analytics, data presentation, and associated professional services. It says analytics will play a critical role in the evolution of M2M, serving as the foundation for an increasing number of M2M business cases.
The Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) cold chain technology solution from Dyzle provides interpretation and analysis of measured variables such as temperature, humidity, energy consumption and CO2. The open independent platform can integrate and utilize data collected from any source, whether it is from proprietary systems or legacy technologies. Through the entire supply chain – from storage to transport and distribution – Dyzle collects data, analyzes it, and makes it visible via a ‘one click’ personal dashboard accessible securely over the web from any internet-enabled device; this enables full visibility of the total cold chain.
KPN is the leading telecommunications and ICT service provider in the Netherlands, offering wireline and wireless telephony, internet and TV to consumers and end-to-end telecom and ICT services to business customers. In Germany and Belgium, KPN pursues a Challenger strategy in its wireless operations and holds number three market positions through E-Plus and BASE. KPN provides wholesale network services to third parties and operates an efficient IP-based infrastructure with global scale in international wholesale through iBasis. For M2M we offer PAN European solutions. At December 31st, 2011, KPN served over 44.5 million customers, of which 36.6 million were in wireless services, 4 million in wireline voice, 2.5 million in broadband Internet and 1.4 million in TV. With 18,687 FTEs in the Netherlands (31,084 FTEs for the whole group), KPN reported full-year revenues of EUR 13.1bn and an EBITDA of EUR 5.1bn in 2011. KPN was incorporated in 1989 and is listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. For more information, visit www.kpn.com/M2M
Dyzle offers customers undisputable evidence for the quality of temperature sensitive products. From farm-to-fork or production-to-patient, Dyzle is able to monitor the cold supply chain in real-time. With different dashboards for general management, quality assurance (QA) and logistics management, customers in food and pharmaceuticals are able to reduce their cost and unburden the stress of regulatory requirements. For more information, visit www.dyzle.com.
ScriptRock makes GuardRail, a DevOps-ready platform for configuration monitoring. Realizing we were spending way too much time digging up, cataloguing, and tracking machine configurations, we began writing our own scripts and tools to handle what is normally an enormous chore. Then we took the concept a step further, giving it a beautiful interface and making it simple enough for our bosses to understand. We named it GuardRail after its function - to allow businesses to move fast and stay sa...
Dec. 22, 2014 10:30 AM EST Reads: 1,025
SYS-CON Media announced today that Sematext launched a popular blog feed on DevOps Journal with over 6,000 story reads over the weekend. DevOps Journal is focused on this critical enterprise IT topic in the world of cloud computing. DevOps Journal brings valuable information to DevOps professionals who are transforming the way enterprise IT is done. Sematext is a globally distributed organization that builds innovative Cloud and On Premises solutions for performance monitoring, alerting an...
Dec. 22, 2014 10:00 AM EST Reads: 985
SYS-CON Events announced today Isomorphic Software, the global leader in high-end, web-based business applications, will exhibit at SYS-CON's DevOps Summit 2015 New York, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Isomorphic Software is the global leader in high-end, web-based business applications. We develop, market, and support the SmartClient & Smart GWT HTML5/Ajax platform, combining the productivity and performance of traditional desktop software ...
Dec. 22, 2014 09:00 AM EST Reads: 1,350
In high-production environments where release cycles are measured in hours or minutes — not days or weeks — there's little room for mistakes and no room for confusion. Everyone has to understand what's happening, in real time, and have the means to do whatever is necessary to keep applications up and running optimally. DevOps is a high-stakes world, but done well, it delivers the agility and performance to significantly impact business competitiveness.
Dec. 21, 2014 07:00 PM EST Reads: 1,000
"Our premise is Docker is not enough. That's not a bad thing - we actually love Docker. At ActiveState all our products are based on open source technology and Docker is an up-and-coming piece of open source technology," explained Bart Copeland, President & CEO of ActiveState Software, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at DevOps Summit at Cloud Expo®, held Nov 4-6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 21, 2014 06:00 PM EST Reads: 2,045
The Internet of Things is not new. Historically, smart businesses have used its basic concept of leveraging data to drive better decision making and have capitalized on those insights to realize additional revenue opportunities. So, what has changed to make the Internet of Things one of the hottest topics in tech? In his session at @ThingsExpo, Chris Gray, Director, Embedded and Internet of Things, discussed the underlying factors that are driving the economics of intelligent systems. Discover ...
Dec. 21, 2014 02:00 PM EST Reads: 2,401
"BSQUARE is in the business of selling software solutions for smart connected devices. It's obvious that IoT has moved from being a technology to being a fundamental part of business, and in the last 18 months people have said let's figure out how to do it and let's put some focus on it, " explained Dave Wagstaff, VP & Chief Architect, at BSQUARE Corporation, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held Nov 4-6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 21, 2014 01:00 PM EST Reads: 2,017
The major cloud platforms defy a simple, side-by-side analysis. Each of the major IaaS public-cloud platforms offers their own unique strengths and functionality. Options for on-site private cloud are diverse as well, and must be designed and deployed while taking existing legacy architecture and infrastructure into account. Then the reality is that most enterprises are embarking on a hybrid cloud strategy and programs. In this Power Panel at 15th Cloud Expo (http://www.CloudComputingExpo.com...
Dec. 21, 2014 11:30 AM EST Reads: 2,431
Verizon Enterprise Solutions is simplifying the cloud-purchasing experience for its clients, with the launch of Verizon Cloud Marketplace, a key foundational component of the company's robust ecosystem of enterprise-class technologies. The online storefront will initially feature pre-built cloud-based services from AppDynamics, Hitachi Data Systems, Juniper Networks, PfSense and Tervela. Available globally to enterprises using Verizon Cloud, Verizon Cloud Marketplace provides a one-stop shop fo...
Dec. 21, 2014 11:00 AM EST Reads: 2,017
Leysin American School is an exclusive, private boarding school located in Leysin, Switzerland. Leysin selected an OpenStack-powered, private cloud as a service to manage multiple applications and provide development environments for students across the institution. Seeking to meet rigid data sovereignty and data integrity requirements while offering flexible, on-demand cloud resources to users, Leysin identified OpenStack as the clear choice to round out the school's cloud strategy. Additional...
Dec. 21, 2014 11:00 AM EST Reads: 1,990
SYS-CON Events announced today that IDenticard will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. IDenticard™ is the security division of Brady Corp (NYSE: BRC), a $1.5 billion manufacturer of identification products. We have small-company values with the strength and stability of a major corporation. IDenticard offers local sales, support and service to our customers across the United States and Canada...
Dec. 21, 2014 10:00 AM EST Reads: 2,169
SYS-CON Media announced today that Aruna Ravichandran, VP of Marketing, Application Performance Management and DevOps at CA Technologies, has joined DevOps Journal’s authors. DevOps Journal is focused on this critical enterprise IT topic in the world of cloud computing. DevOps Journal brings valuable information to DevOps professionals who are transforming the way enterprise IT is done. Aruna's inaugural article "Four Essential Cultural Hacks for DevOps Newbies" discusses how to demonstrate the...
Dec. 21, 2014 10:00 AM EST Reads: 1,815
The move in recent years to cloud computing services and architectures has added significant pace to the application development and deployment environment. When enterprise IT can spin up large computing instances in just minutes, developers can also design and deploy in small time frames that were unimaginable a few years ago. The consequent move toward lean, agile, and fast development leads to the need for the development and operations sides to work very closely together. Thus, DevOps become...
Dec. 21, 2014 10:00 AM EST Reads: 2,068
SYS-CON Events announced today that Windstream, a leading provider of advanced network and cloud communications, has been named “Silver Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9–11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY. Windstream (Nasdaq: WIN), a FORTUNE 500 and S&P 500 company, is a leading provider of advanced network communications, including cloud computing and managed services, to businesses nationwide. The company also offers broadband, p...
Dec. 21, 2014 08:30 AM EST Reads: 2,307
SYS-CON Events announced today that AIC, a leading provider of OEM/ODM server and storage solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. AIC is a leading provider of both standard OTS, off-the-shelf, and OEM/ODM server and storage solutions. With expert in-house design capabilities, validation, manufacturing and production, AIC's broad selection of products are highly flexible and are conf...
Dec. 21, 2014 06:30 AM EST Reads: 2,011


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Vanessa Marcil-Giovinazzo (ex-Brenda, GENERAL HOSPITAL) is celebrating the East Coast launch of her children's clothing line, Baby Gagoo, with a star-studded event in Staten Island, NY, on Saturday, August 4!
The actress will be joined by her husband, CSI: NY star Carmine Giovinazzo, at Jimmy's Fine Jewelry Too on Victory Blvd., for a cocktail party and fashion show featuring the original designs of the Baby Gagoo 4 Kids and Baby Gagoo 4 Newborns lines. Other TV stars scheduled to appear are Staten Island's own MOB WIVES Drita DaVanzo and Carla Facciolo... and Marcil-Giovinazzo's GH better half, Maurice Benard (Sonny)!
The event begins at 7:30 p.m. ET, and tickets are $100. To order, click here.


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Go go JoBro: les freres du Jonas have not only set the third highest Billboard debut of the year, after selling over 525,000 albums in its first week, they have also become the first band since ‘N Sync to have two albums in the top 10. Although, give that the other album is the “Camp Rock” soundtrack, I don’t know that it entirely qualifies. Then again, who am I to criticize the power of teen pop superstardom?
Not only have the Jonas Brothers notched the year’s third-biggest debut album, they’ve managed the rare feat of having two albums in the top 10 at the same time.
“A Little Bit Longer,” the third album from the trio of siblings, sold more than 525,000 copies to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts, according to figures released by Nielsen SoundScan on Wednesday.
Only Lil Wayne (whose “Tha Carter III” sold a little more than 1 million in its first week) and Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” (which topped the chart with 720,000 its first week) have had better debuts this year.
With all the hoopla surrounding the release of their latest album, the Jonas Brothers’ self-titled second album, released last year, also vaulted into the top 10; in addition, they are featured on the “Camp Rock” soundtrack, which is at No. 8.
According to Billboard.com, the last group to have two albums in the top 10 was another teen sensation, ‘N Sync, back in 1999.


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The 2013 Award reflects businesses’ consistently high level of customer service
Plumbing Professors, Canton Township Michigan, has been awarded the prestigious 2013 Angie’s List Super Service Award, an honor bestowed annually on approximately 5 percent of all the businesses rated on the nation’s leading provider of consumer reviews on local service companies. This marks the fourth year in a row that Plumbing Professors has received the Super Service Award.
“We are delighted that our clients continue to have a fantastic plumbing, sewer and drain service experience with Plumbing Professors,” said Matt O’Rourke Vice President of Plumbing Professors.
“Only a fraction of the businesses rated on Angie’s List can claim the sterling customer service record of being a Super Service Award winner because we set a high bar,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks. The fact that Plumbing Professors can claim Super Service Award status speaks volumes about its dedication to consumers and businesses alike.
Angie’s List Super Service Award winners have met strict eligibility requirements including earning a minimum number of reports, an exemplary rating from their customers and abiding by Angie’s List operational guidelines.


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Chevrolet unveiled its newest version of the Corvette Stingray this week and its immediate impression prompted mixed reviews among a few members of the Corvette Club of Temecula Valley.
As a kid growing up in the Midwest, I always thought that ‘Vettes were uniquely Southern Californian -- like there was some special connection between this car and the surf. Maybe I saw a picture of Brian Wilson and the Beachboys standing around one and it’s been stuck up there in the cobwebs for all these years.
But when I asked Corvette owners about their opinions of the latest version from Detroit, I learned that I was terribly wrong. Oh, they love their cars, all right, but for various reasons that have no connection to Southern California.
“A Corvette is sex going down the road,” said Debbie Phistry of Temecula, who owns a pewter-gray, 2001 Sting Ray.
That’s something I’ve never heard said about a Volkswagen bus or a Honda Civic.
The new model looks like a Sting Ray -- the kind you don’t want to challenge to a race along the ocean’s floor. It has slits for headlamps and looks like it moves with grace and ease. It also has more horsepower, more aluminum in its frame and is supposed to get better gas mileage.
But Corvette club President Greg West said he wasn’t overly impressed with the 2014 model, which will go on sale in the fall. He admitted he’s style-conscious, though, and the pictures he saw may have been a little dark.
“I like the looks of my C6 and I wasn’t that impressed with the tail lights on the new model,” West said. “In a way, it reminded me of the old Camaro.”
But board member Al Hackworth comes down on the opposite side.
“I want one,” said the owner of a 2008 metallic-red coupe. “I want to take one out and give the throttle what it deserves. Then I want to take it on some curves to see how it goes.”
Hackworth, West and Phistry all own newer model cars and are all fairly new on the devoted-to-Vette list. Hackworth said the older models rattled and were hard to drive, while the newer ones handle phenomenally well.
And they all talk as though Corvette is still a good investment -- that is, if you can afford one in the first place. Chevrolet is still holding the price of the new model close to its vest. The price of the 2013 model starts at about $49,600, according to published reports out of Detroit last weekend.
The Corvette owners also agree that ownership of their remarkable cars entitles them to membership in a pretty select, and nice, group.
“We have about 120 members and we meet at 6:30 on the second Thursday of every month at Pat & Oscar’s Restaurant (in Temecula),” said Phistry. With the new model coming out, they’ll have much to talk about next month.
The group also raises money for charity through its own car show and they go on a mystery lunch run to a different restaurant in Southern California every month.
Hackworth is a native of Ohio and said the club here still doesn’t rival those back in Michigan and other points east. There are much bigger ones in those places, he said, but it’s hard to match the social benefits provided by the club here in Southwest County.
I guess the prospect of taking a Corvette out for a ride in the warm sun makes it uniquely Southern Californian. Always has and always will.
If you have an idea for a column or know someone who would be interesting to feature, call Jim Rothgeb at (951) 676-4315, ext. 2621, or email email@example.com.


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Ice cream sellers may get new but limited licences
Hawkers say plan is too restrictive
The government may resume issuing licences to ice cream hawkers but with restrictions, including a term of three to five years and a ballot to decide where they can do business, a union representing the trade says.
The union is not happy, saying a restricted term would deter hawkers from investing in equipment, and the ballot idea does not make sense.
Cheung Chee-hung, chairman of the Dairy Products Beverage and Food Industries Employees Union, said the proposal was outlined during a meeting with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in November.
'The department said that if the government did issue licences ... it wanted to review the licensing system again in three to five years' time,' Mr Cheung said.
No licences have been issued for ice cream vendors since 1993 and existing lifetime licences expire when the holders die or leave the business.
Mr Cheung said the latest plans lacked flexibility.
'It costs about HK$10,000 to invest in an ice cream trolley. It costs even more to buy a motorcycle for selling ice cream, as it is not easy to find three-wheel motorbikes in Hong Kong now,' he said.
'If a licence is only valid for three to five years, nobody will be willing to invest so much just to do business for so few years and join a trade with so many uncertainties in the future.'
Mr Cheung said ice cream hawkers now only had to tell an ice cream company where they wanted to do business.
The company would then check if there were other ice cream hawkers in the area, to avoid competition.
'But the government wants to change this and require everyone to join a ballot. It does not make any sense. What if an ice cream hawker who lives in Sheung Shui is assigned to sell ice cream in Stanley by the ballot? Ice cream hawkers can now find a spot that is agreeable to other hawkers and close to their homes,' he said.
'Also, ice cream hawkers on motorbikes have to move around due to seasonal change and school holidays to do business. The present system is more flexible than the government proposals.'
Many ice cream hawkers want the government to issue licences to people wanting to join the industry, and allow close relatives to inherit the existing licences.
The Food and Health Bureau and the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department are conducting a review of hawker licensing policy.
'We have completed consultation with all the 18 district councils and trade associations. With regard to the itinerant hawker licences, most of the district councils had no objection to issuing new licences,' the department said.
'We will brief the Legislative Council panel on food safety and environmental hygiene by the end of the 2008-09 financial year on the ... review of hawker licensing policy.'
The department said consideration might be given to specifying a validity period for any new licence, which would give a permitted operating area within which hawkers could choose where to do business.


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The biggest barrier for entry in Final Fantasy XIV, a tremendous video game, is that you have to catch up with the entire story to play each new expansion pack, which can take dozens and dozens of hours if you’re behind. Square Enix wants to change that.
Over the weekend, FFXIV director Naoki Yoshida published a large post on the forums about Jump and Boost Potions, a new feature they’re exploring that will allow players to pay real money to level up and catch up with the story. These potions are currently available in the Chinese and Korean versions of Final Fantasy XIV, and Yoshida says they’re looking into ways to bring the feature to Japan, Europe, and North America.
The short version: for 5,000 yen (about $43), players will be able to take a job to level 50 and catch up on the current story via cutscenes in the inn. If you buy both potions, you won’t have to grind through dozens and dozens of hours worth of story quests just to check out Stormblood and other future expansion packs. Says Yoshida:
Including the free trial version, we are seeing several thousand new players play FINAL FANTASY XIV every day. While FINAL FANTASY XIV might be one of those games wherein new players can catch up to the top-end of the players relatively easy, not everyone has a lot of free time to spend on the game. A lot of people enjoy gaming as much as they can with their limited free time while managing their busy lives.
While people will be able to catch up even easier after the release of Stormblood with the adjustments we will make to the amount of experience points obtained, it would still require a lot of time just to reach the starting point of Stormblood.
If an MMORPG is not able to recruit new players, all that is left is for the game to stabilize and eventually go on a decline. At that moment, the type of operation of the game would shift to one that works hard to slow down the pace of decline. To prevent the game from reaching that point, we would like to prepare as much as we can for the potential new players that may be interested in the game.
Yoshida says the system is still in early development and may not be out in North America for a while—possibly not until after Stormblood, the next expansion, comes out next year. Since Yoshida and crew are soliciting advice, here’s mine: Include a free Jump and Boost potion with every new copy of the game. Everyone should be able to catch up if they choose, and $43 is pretty pricey.


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G.Skill managed to be the first out of the gate with Indilinx's latest controller and it should be another success in their growing solid state line-up. The new ECO controller should allow G.Skill to manufacture the Falcon II for less and pass the cost saving on to the consumer. Already we are seeing a 30 CAD cost reduction when compared to the Falcon with 64GB of NAND Flash. When we compared the 128GB Falcon to the 128GB Falcon II we found a 50 CAD price difference, so it looks like the G.Skill was able to make significant strides on a series of drives that were already some of the lowest priced to begin with.
When it comes to performance it appears there are some tradeoffs that come with the 1819 firmware, but in the long run Windows 7 users should find TRIM more appealing than an initial performance boost that will degrade over time. TRIM will allow your Falcon II to reclaim lost performance and stay within 90% of what you observed when the drive was new.
I believe availability is still going to be an issue with the G.Skill Falcon II and even more so than the Falcon. I am basing this on the cost of the Falcon II and how many people will be willing to make the SSD plunge now that we are seeing a 50 CAD cost savings at the 128GB level. I can only hope that you will be able to purchase a G.Skill Falcon II not just next week, but a month, two months and longer from a reputable e-tailer and not just find OUT OF STOCK notices on the sellers pages.
PRICING: You can find products similar to this one for sale below.
United States: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon's website.
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Canada: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon Canada's website.
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|| Print ||
|Thursday, January 12, 2012|
Last fall I wrote a cover story for Oregon Business about the dearth of women serving on the boards of public companies. To compile the data, I printed out a list of Oregon’s 46 public companies, then counted the number of female directors on each company’s board. The tallying went something like this: “zero, zero, zero, one, zero, zero, two, zero, zero…”
The final count showed women fill only 39 of the 340 board seats on Oregon’s 46 publicly traded companies. Almost half of the companies had no women on their boards at all.
I thought about that story—and the sameness and sparseness of the numbers — while chatting the other day with Linda Weston, executive director of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network. As Weston described the region’s increasingly vibrant startup scene, I was struck by what seemed to be a significant number of women serving on the frontlines of the city and state's entrepreneurial surge.
Oregon has a long history of women starting small businesses. But those enterprises have typically stayed small and revolved around retail—aka the “pink ghetto.” What’s new is women are forming “highly scalable businesses” and that a growing number are in the tech sectors, Weston says. “It’s a dramatic change."
A burgeoning population of women engineers and MBAs is helping diversify the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Perhaps OEN can also take some of the credit. In 2002, the nonprofit started the Women’s Investment Network, a program aimed at educating women about angel investing. That group, whose first investment was Portland Monthly Magazine, became so successful that it folded in 2010 and became part of the Portland Angel Network, a group of men and women who hear presentations from early-stage entrepreneurial companies.
A pioneering female entrepreneur herself, Weston — who was recruited in 1996 to start the now-defunct Portland Power women's basketball team — also noted that women who become active angel investors often become board members on those companies as well. It's a virtuous cycle. As I wrote in my women and corporate boards story, companies with a critical mass of female board members tend to hire more female corporate officers than companies with few or no women directors.
This is not to overstate the number of women in Oregon's startup sector, which is still very much male-dominated. And even as local business incubators and accelerators proliferate, we've yet to birth anything like Women Innovate Mobile, a New York-based startup accelerator and mentorship-driven program designed for women-founded companies in mobile technology. That program is currently accepting its first round of applications, with interest coming from dozens of states and several foreign countries, including China, says co-founder Deborah Jackson.
Back in Oregon, I have decided to inject what is so far an anecdotal project with a bit of scientific credibility — and have thus embarked on another data gathering exercise, this time compiling a list of female entrepreneurs and investors who are pushing the start-up scene forward. The following is by no means definitive, so please pass on names of other notable women driving 21st century entrepreneurship.
Oregon's startup women:
UPDATE, 11:44 a.m. on 1/12: I am starting another list of women identified after the blog published.
1. Teena Jan, co-founder Gamma Point LLC, a mobile app development company specializing in creating navigation apps.
2. Kristina Gorriaran, president SprigHealth, an online marketplace where consumers can find and book appointments with healthcare providers.
3. James Keller, co-founder, Small Society, develops mobile apps for large brands. Acquired in early January by Walmart Labs.
4. Kristine Akins, CEO BikeTrak, GPS powered security for bicycles.
5. Cindy Cooper, Founder Social Innovation Incubator, Co-founder and Managing Director, Impact Entrepreneurs, Portland State University School of Business.
6. Melissa Appleyard, oversees, Lab2Market, a PSU workshop providing startup training from venture capital firm, DFJ Frontier.
Linda Baker is the managing editor of Oregon Business.
Friday, March 27, 2015
BY JOE CORTRIGHT
The CRC is a cautionary tale about how we plan for, finance and invest in transportation infrastructure.
Monday, April 27, 2015
BY AMY MILSHTEIN
Companies can benefit when they use software to meet staffing requirements and address employees' family and life commitments.
Wednesday, April 01, 2015
BY LINDA BAKER
Leaders in Oregon's ag sector gathered this morning in Portland’s Coopers Hall winery/taproom to discuss the role of the region as an export gateway, impediments to exporting products and solutions to containerized shipping challenges.
Monday, April 27, 2015
BY LINDA BAKER
Mohan Nair channels a visionary.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
inDinero, a business that manages back-office accounting for startups and smaller companies, recently announced it would relocate its headquarters from San Francisco to Portland. We talked to CEO Jessica Mah about what drew her to Portland and how she plans to disrupt the traditional CPA model.
Monday, April 27, 2015
10 briefcases that mean business.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
BY LINDA BAKER | EDITOR
Earlier this week we posted an article from our May issue: It’s a Man's Man’s Man’s World. The story covered the gender divide in tech from the perspective of male workers. Twitter didn’t like it.
|The Good Hacker|
|It's a Man's Man's Man's World|
|Short Shrift:The threat of just-in-time scheduling|
|Downtime with the director of Barley's Angels|
|Fighting Fire With Fire|
|Shades of Gray|
|Man for All Seasons|
|How to court millennials|
|Wal-Mart wants meat suppliers to improve treatment of animals|
|Scandal negatively impacts Tom Brady's endorsement value|
|John Kerry pushes TPP in Seattle speech|
|Big banks hit with $2.5B fine|
|Six Chinese nationals allegedly stole trade secrets|
|Lane Bryant owner to buy Ann Taylor, Loft|
New conference aims to solve challenges, quell fears amid regulatory changes.
Tourism marketing supports entrepreneurship by attracting visitors to all corners of the state.
Beaverton firm's business intelligence platform rivals that of industry heavyweights.
The Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) will be presenting its third annual Entrepreneurial Summit on Friday, June 5 at Castaway in Portland, Oregon.
On June 13th Mayor Charlie Hales will attend nonprofit organization Dream Change’s inaugural Love Summit and will introduce one of its keynote speakers, Dan Wieden of Wieden+Kennedy advertising agency.
34 spots for food, 17 places to sip, and 7 sites to choose a brew beckon visitors.


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2022 should’ve been a big year for TV technology. This was supposed to be the year QD-OLED TVs took the world by storm and OLED TVs would finally reach the 1,000-nit mark for peak brightness. So far, however, QD-OLED TVs have caused little more than a rustle and high-end OLED TVs seem stuck in place at around 800 nits.
That doesn’t mean that it was a bad year for TV tech — the mid-range LG C2 OLED and Samsung QN95B still blew us away when they came across our test bench earlier this year — it just seems that my expectations for what TVs could be in 2022 were a bit too lofty.
As we close out the year, I'm looking back at what I was expecting to see this year, and what we ended up with instead.
The promise of QD-OLED didn’t deliver
I remember sitting in on the briefings for QD-OLED TVs, hearing the same line repeated over and over again: “QD-OLED promises the best of both OLED TVs and QLED TVs in a single package”. That was — and still is — true, to an extent.
The QD-OLED TVs that we’ve tested so far have offered higher brightness than LG’s regular OLED TVs and have better black levels than Samsung’s standard QLED TVs. What they didn’t tell me is that the black levels on QD-OLED wouldn’t be as good as they are on OLED TVs and their peak brightness wouldn’t be as bright as QLED TVs.
That’s exactly what we discovered when we reviewed the Samsung S95B OLED. While we were pleasantly surprised by the peak brightness of Samsung’s QD-OLED (1500 nits), it wasn’t able to sustain that brightness when the window size grew beyond 10% of the total screen. That meant great HDR highlights when there were only a few bright objects on the screen, but not very impressive brightness when everything was supposed to be bright.
Black levels similarly left us disappointed. “Although an OLED TV should, in theory, have a perfect black level (because any pixel not in use is turned completely off) that results in infinite contrast,” our reviewer wrote, “the S95B doesn’t”. We could actually see the raised black level in ambient lighting.
In the end, all we could do was give Samsung’s first QD-OLED a respectable — though not quite immaculate — score of 4 out of 5.
Still, 2022 was a great year for mid-range TVs
But just because the latest and greatest TV tech didn’t turn out to be…well, that great, it doesn’t mean the rest of the year was a wash. Mini-LED TVs came down in price with the 65-inch Hisense U8H hitting an all-time low of $899 on Amazon, and the OLED Evo technology made its way from the expensive LG G1 Series into the more affordable LG C2 OLED series.
Both these were huge milestones for TV technology — and, in fact, one of my favorite parts of covering TVs is when super-expensive tech becomes affordable to everyone.
Take, for instance, the Mini-LED backlight inside the Hisense U8H. It helps the otherwise mid-range model hit the peak brightness of a top Samsung QLED TV while maintaining excellent contrast and great black levels.
For a time, Mini-LED was something only available in the highest-end TCL TV, before making its way into Samsung, Sony and now Hisense TVs. Each time it’s moved from one brand to another, the cost has come down some and you can now buy one for under $1,000. It’s exactly what I had hoped would happen when I saw them for the first time back in 2019.
On the OLED side of things, this was the year that the LG C2 OLED inherited the OLED Evo technology from last year’s LG G1 OLED. With it, the C2 was able to expand its peak brightness from 600 nits to 800 nits — not as big of an uptick as we might have hoped, but a solid boost nonetheless. This, too, was an example of more expensive tech making its way into a more affordable model and another small victory for TV lovers everywhere.
TVs in 2023: Outlook
Admittedly, I might’ve had too high of expectations around QD-OLED. But anyone in those briefings would have walked away with the same idea. Given that QD-OLED didn’t quite shine in its first year I’m hoping that its second year on earth might bring the refinements the technology so desperately needs.
Whatever next year brings, however, I’ll be excited to be on the frontlines to cover it for you. That said, be sure to check back in early January as we cover CES 2023 and the dozens of new TVs from Samsung, LG, Sony and others at the show.


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46th HATA Annual Overseas Convention
6 November 2019
Australia recently welcomed the largest ever trade delegation from Hong Kong, led by the Hong Kong Association of Travel Agents (HATA).
The theme of 46th annual HATA overseas convention was ‘The New Luxury Travel – Road to Business Diversification’.
Tourism Australia and Destination NSW co-hosted the welcome dinner at Luna Park and promoted Australia as a destination to 130 guests.


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An increase has been seen in mail and e-mail scams in recent weeks, and consumers should be careful to protect themselves.
Jody Rempel at Peabody State Bank said there have been several cases of one scam. A letter arrives in the mail and says the recipient has won a lottery or sweepstakes, and a genuine-looking check is included. It says all the recipient needs to do is cash the check and wire part of the money back for “processing fees.”
By the time the check is identified as a counterfeit, it’s too late for the consumer to get back the money they wired.
“If it looks too good to be true, it probably is,” Rempel said.
Marion Police Chief Josh Whitwell said people receiving these fraudulent checks should report it to local law enforcement.
“If you’re getting a prize, you shouldn’t have to send back any money,” Whitwell said.
Roberta Namee, a manager of the Better Business Bureau serving southeast, central, and western Kansas, said consumers can take a few steps to protect themselves.
If the return address is outside the U.S., it most likely is a fraud. Consumers also can check for fraud alerts on Web sites like www.bbb.org or www.phonebusters.com.
If consumers have not had any dealings with the suspicious group before, they also can contact the state attorney general’s office for alerts, said Elizabeth Wine, Great Plains Federal Credit Union branch manager in Hillsboro.


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Thirteen hours of presentations, 20 hours of interviews, and 34 speakers share one common theme: The right marketing technology can help marketers stimulate customer engagement and drive ROI. Here, we distill the key issues for you
Commonalities among the winners of DMN's 2016 Marketing&Tech Innovation Awards shed light on what it takes to be (successfully) innovative in marketing today.
Western Union's head of global social strategy explains how tapping into customers' distinct cultures and needs creates engaging, relatable stories that prompt action.
A panel of sports marketers took the stage at DMN's 2016 Marketing&Tech Innovation Summit and shared their best practices for driving engagement, loyalty, and sales.
Day 2 of DMN's 2016 Marketing &Tech Innovation Summit brims over with captivating content—covering everything from how data is changing marketing, to selecting the "ideal" marketing technology, to moving beyond engagement to entangled marketing.
Marketers for clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters recognize that shoppers today are multidimensional, transient, and always-on.
Getting a new email program off the ground isn't easy, but Delta Air Lines took its SkyMiles frequent flier emails to new heights by using data to deliver segmented, relevant messages.
Global B2B marketing agency Stein IAS wanted to find an easier way for marketers to compare their digital marketing aptitude to others and more thoroughly understand where they need to improve.
One reason for Sprout Social's appeal is the relative simplicity of its user interface, and the perception that even inexperienced users can learn to navigate it easily.
This year we recognize Salesforce's achievement, for the completeness of vision and technological excellence of its cloud-based digital marketing platform.
Influitive, the advocate marketing platform headquartered in Toronto, impressed judges with its innovative approach to customer experience management.
Marketing success today takes collaboration not only among marketers, but especially with their technologist colleagues, asserts Kimberly-Clark's Mayur Gutpa. Here's what else captured attention at DMN's Marketing&Tech Innovation Summit.
The two finalists of the Marketing Automation Innovation award share their different approaches to marketing at the 2015 Marketing&Tech Innovation Summit.
Panelists discussed the role technology plays in marketing, and how marketers should approach new technology at the 2015 Marketing&Tech Innovation Summit.
We reveal who's tops in using technology and data to innovate their marketing: Announcing the winners of the 2015 Marketing&Tech Innovation Awards.
Marketers and their technology colleagues have varied perspectives, but they can all agree that collaboration is essential. Read on to learn how to achieve it in your organization.
The 2014 Marketing&Tech Partnership Summit was a day packed with insight, networking opportunities, laughs, revelations, and industry luminaries.
With Big Data comes big responsibility. So, between marketing, IT and legal, who exactly owns this data? Winterberry Group's Bruce Biegel breaks down data ownership once and for all.
Like it or not, today all brands are in the technology business, says Aaron Shapiro, CEO of Huge, speaking at the Marketing&Tech Partnership Summit in NYC.
Choosing marketing-technology providers is no easy feat—especially as the market continues to evolve and diversify. Here, a view of the market.
What will be the big marketing trends in 2014? Bruce Biegel, senior managing partner at Winterberry Group, shares his predictions.
Direct Marketing News Editor-in-Chief Ginger Conlon talks to Veeral Rathod, cofounder of J. Hilburn, at the luxury menswear brand's new pop-store in NYC.
Marketers and technologists need to collaborate, now more than ever—especially considering that oft-quoted Gartner stat about CMOs spending more than CIOs by 2017.
Company of the Week
SK&A is a leading provider of U.S. healthcare information solutions and databases. As part of IMS Health, SK&A researches and maintains contact and profiling data for over 2 million healthcare providers, including 800,000+ prescribers. SK&A's data supports research and marketing initiatives for life sciences, medical device, managed healthcare, direct marketing, publishing, education and more. SK&A's proprietary databases are telephone-verified twice per year from its world class Research Centers. SK&A enables multi-channel marketing and sets the standard for data quality and reliability. SK&A's customers include many of America's most recognized healthcare, publishing and pharmaceutical institutions.


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If your denim can stretch that’s great, but it’s going to have to do more than that to attract today’s choosy consumer.
Denim on display in the designated Beyond Denim zone at Intertextile Shanghai last week came in all washes and fabrications, but the greater focus was on features that improve denim’s comfort and wearability.
For Chinese denim manufacturer Hebei Xindadong Textile Co., a cotton-based knit-like woven with Lycra dualFX stretch technology was among the maker’s most popular.
“It has good stretch and better recovery. It feels like sweats,” denim department sales manager Mary Han said. “For this item we sell a lot to both the EU and USA.”
Softness has also been in high demand.
In the last two years, Han said, U.S. buyers in particular have taken in more rayon denim for its soft hand feel.
“This year and last year, many customers request super soft,” Han said.
In men’s, it’s stretch for the win. Men’s denim has been heading to the stretchier side for the last couple years, but it’s in such high demand now—with as much as 40 percent stretch—that Hebei hardly had any non-stretch men’s denim on display, and the same was the case for many of the zone’s exhibitors.
Read more at Sourcing Journal.


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The remarkable India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) has come into force today when New Delhi flagged off its first consignment to Dubai.
On February 18, both India and UAE signed the significant, Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, CEPA. Under this, both the nations agreed to freely trade services and investments with each other. Yesterday, New Delhi flagged off its first assignment of goods to Dubai. The trade will attract zero customs duty through this agreement.
BVR Subrahmanyam, Secretary for the Department of the Commerce flagged off the first assignment from New Delhi. The consignment consisted of jewellery products from India during a function in New Customs House in New Delhi.
According to a government press release, under the India-UAE CEPA, the Certificates of Origin are handed over to 3 exporters from the Gems and Jewellery sector. The statement said, “BVR Subrahmanyam, India’s Commerce Secretary, handed over the Certificates of Origin to three Gems and Jewellery exporters in a symbolic gesture that put the historic agreement into action. The above-mentioned shipment will now be subject to no customs duties. Furthermore, on May 1, 2022, it was received by Dubai authorities”, said a government press release.
Significance of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
The CEPA will benefit India and UAE both in various ways. It is worthy to note that India is the first country to develop such agreement with the United Arab Emirates. Above all, this is India’s first CEPA in the last 11 years.
India and UAE will comprehend various sectors in this agreement, including Gems and Jewellery, Textiles, Leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural and wood products, engineering products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and automobiles.
Further, CEPA will increase the total value to $100 billions of bilateral trade in goods and $15 billions of bilateral trade in services in around 5 years. However, taking into account, the Indian market, the trade could touch higher targets.
Published By – Chirag Agrawal
Edited By – Nehal Sharma


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,Tesla took U-turn and suspended the decision of vehicle purchase with the use of bitcoin and its CEO Elon Musk said that it is due to climate change reasons.
After the announcement of bitcoin acceptance for Tesla, bitcoin fell more than 10%, and this affected dipping the Tesla shares too. Also, this announcement in March met with some investors and environmentalists. In February, the carmaker mentioned that it had bought $1.5bn of the biggest digital currency all over the world.
However, on Thursday, it took a huge U-turn to the prior comments mentioning that they are concerned about the swift increase of using fossil fuels, particularly for bitcoin mining and transaction, especially for coal as it has the worst emissions.
Bitcoin is made when high potency computers revive against other machines for solving difficult mathematical puzzles; that is an energy-intensive process that relies for now on electricity that is made with fossil fuels, especially coal.
The CEO further mentioned that cryptocurrency is surely a good idea, but it is going to cost a lot to the environment. Also, the carmaker is not going to sell any of its Bitcoin and has an intention to use it for transactions as the mining process gets to more sustainable energy.
All the market analysts see this move by electric car making company Tesla to relieve the concerning investors focusing on the issue of climate change and sustainability.
Some of the proponents of bitcoin noted that the financial system existing now with its several employees and devices in air-conditioned offices make use of a large amount of energy too.
Following this, Elon Must restated his strong belief in crypto. He mentioned on his Wednesday tweet that they are looking for other digital currencies that make use of 1% of bitcoin’s energy per transaction.
A day before this, the CEO of Tesla had a poll on his Twitter account about whether the company should use Dogecoin or not. It is a currency that he helped turned from jokes to a valuable asset.
After that, on Sunday, he announced that SpaceX. His commercial rocket company will be accepting Dogecoin as a payment method. This is for launching a lunar mission upcoming year. This was done just a few hours after he sent the crypto spiraling downward. He is calling it a hustle during a guest host on the comedy sketch TV show “Saturday Night Live.”
There is a dominance of Chinese bitcoin miners. That is pairing with a lack of motivation to swap cheap fossil fuel for more costly renewable. This means that a few quick fixes can help the crypto emission problem.
The Chinese miners account for almost 70pc of the production of bitcoin. And data from the Cambridge University’s center for alternative finance shows. They are most likely to use renewable energy. That is mostly hydropower during the months of rainy summer but fossil fuels for the rest of the year. And that includes especially coal.
Some officials in Beijing have data centers check that involve cryptocurrency mining. This is for a better understanding of their effect on energy consumption.
So, as there are quite big emissions from bitcoin mining. And Tesla demands a quite high price for their electric cars (that is an obvious thing). So, it can definitely cause a lot of issues to the environment. Keep following Creative Sprout Media’s blog for the latest updates.


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Amy Kenny, CFO of New Holland Brewing, will be the next speaker in the Entrepreneurship Forum speaker series, sponsored by BlueOx Credit Union. The presentation will be held on Friday, March 19 at 8 a.m. Your health and safety are WMU's top priority. In accordance with state regulations, the 2020-21 Entrepreneurship Forum speaker series will be held virtually.
new holland brewing
In 1997, Brett VanderKamp believed that his college town and the brewing industry were due for a shakeup. And so, New Holland Brewing Company was born in Holland, Michigan.
Today, New Holland is recognized as one of the leading innovators in the revolution of craft brewing and distilling. With nearly 500 team members, New Holland’s craft beer and spirits are sold across the country and around the globe.
The company’s retail presence continues to grow with two full-service restaurants, a spirits tasting room, two brick-and-mortar stores and an online store. Haworth College of Business alumna, Amy Kenny, chief financial officer of New Holland Brewing, will speak about the company’s strategy and goals.
About the Entrepreneurship Forum
Entrepreneurship Forum is a monthly series sponsored by BlueOx Credit Union and hosted by Western Michigan University's Haworth College of Business. The forum brings stories of entrepreneurs and startup success to the greater Kalamazoo community.
For more information or to suggest an entrepreneur who should be considered for the series, please email Samantha Hooker.
For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.


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Given the buzz about funding from VCs, angels, and other sources, it may be counterintuitive to say that your funding partner could actually kill your company.
BY FAISAL HOQUE | May 16, 2014
I know this painfully well from my own mistakes and failures. In the late ’90s, I founded EC Cubed, a B2B e-commerce software platform company. Like many other founders, the proverbial door hit me on the you-know-what at the hands of the VCs who invested $50 million to rapidly grow the company. While that was extremely difficult, what was even more painful was watching the company collapse soon after my departure, despite the capital infusion.
Vinod Khosla, the famed founder of Khosla Ventures, at a TechCrunch event said that 70%-80% of VCs add negative value. According to him, most VCs “haven’t done shit” to know what to tell startups going through difficult times.
For other types of investors, such as high net worth investors, family offices, and private equity, similar conclusions about their success could be drawn.
There are many reasons why ventures fail. However, logically thinking, the success rate of post-funded companies should be a lot higher.
Funding and investors in a company should help increase the value of the company, not reduce it. So the question is, where is the disconnect?
Read the full article @BusinessInsider.


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Set-top vendor Pace has made two senior appointments to its Pace Networks division, with Andrew Ward being promoted to general manager and Shane McCarthy promoted to vice-president, sales.
Pace Networks was created to market Paces recently-launched MultiDweller product that enables service operators to deliver broadcast and broadband services to hard-to-reach digital markets. Ward, who was previously vice-president, sales at Pace, will be responsible for running all aspects of the Pace Networks business, focusing on growing the customer base for MultiDweller.
McCarthy was previously a group account director at Pace. He will be responsible for deepening relationships with several of PaceÂs largest customers and developing the Pace footprint in new territories, including central and eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia.
ICYMI: Amazon names Kelly Day to head international streaming operations digitaltveurope.com/2021/12/02/ama… https://t.co/790KPPRXng
02 December 2021 @ 19:35:00 UTC
OTT to overtake pay TV in MENA digitaltveurope.com/2021/12/02/ott… https://t.co/w7uXkO88C9
02 December 2021 @ 18:00:00 UTC


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In some U.S. states, it’s been years since cannabis was legalized for medical or leisure functions, but you continue to can’t purchase it with a bank card.
Banking and the monetary sector have been a spine of the American trade, though a weak spine at instances such because the 2007/08 monetary disaster.
Given the truth that banking is such a giant a part of the American economic system and vital in each different trade, it turns into painfully apparent when it’s missing, which is now the case with the cannabis trade.
Politicians in D.C. have been working arduous at placing collectively a bipartisan effort to go a invoice which might make it simpler for states with authorized cannabis markets to supply banking providers with out concern of federal repercussions.
At one level, even PayPal – the web’s largest on-line cost platform – began lobbying for the federal authorities to finish the prohibition of marijuana.
It’s not simple being Eaze
Eaze, a California-based cannabis supply firm, slowly however absolutely grew to become one of many greatest family cannabis names.
This is probably not resulting from the truth that they’re nice at their job, however moderately due to all their current appearances within the information and papers.
Eaze’s enterprise was hit arduous when apps soliciting the gross sales of marijuana obtained faraway from Google’s PlayStore, as Eaze was a type of apps.
A bit of previous to that, the corporate was banned from delivering cannabis to numerous counties as these counties opted-out of the leisure system, solely to have that call reverted by The Workplace of Administrative Regulation.
And now, Eaze is on the point of one other public conflict, as the corporate which runs the supply service, Chill, filed a civil lawsuit towards them within the San Francisco County Superior Court docket.
As of lately, Eaze began accepting Visa as a method of cost, and its competitor believes there’s one thing fishy about that.
In response to the filed lawsuit, Eaze is being sued for violating California’s unfair competitors legislation and conducting felony fraud by masking sure transactions, that are the truth is bank card funds for marijuana.
A few of the masked purchases got here from Fly2SkyShop.com and OutdoorMaxx.com that are believed to be on-line fronts for unlicensed marijuana corporations.
Eaze is the largest cannabis supply firm in California, and the lawsuit claims its enterprise has quadrupled because it started accepting bank card funds.
Though Eaze has a number of competitors apart from Chill, similar to GetNugg and Inexperienced Rush, all of them are run on a cash-only mannequin, which makes it considerably tougher to compete with Eaze.
Bank cards for medical sufferers
One other cannabis firm has had sufficient and determined to do one thing about bank card points. This time it was Columbia Care who did it.
Columbia Care is at present current in 12 states and the corporate launched its personal bank card for sufferers in New York, with plans to increase into Illinois subsequent.
A cost processing service known as Sq. tried to battle the identical subject a few month in the past, asserting its personal cannabis firm card processing system.
Hopefully, the SAFE Banking Act will likely be handed by the Congress someday quickly, which might render most of those techniques pointless.
As soon as the mud settles across the banking subject, possibly the federal government will sort out different severe issues. They should make the cannabis trade extra user-friendly, as a substitute of placing these customers liable to being imprisoned.


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Republican Wireless is a new kind of MVNO carrier who has been testing its newfangled service for several months. The company is attempting to reinvent the mobile network space, offering a single device engineered to utilize Wi-Fi whenever it’s available for calls, texts and mobile data. When there’s no Wi-Fi within range, the device will automatically switch to a cellular network.
The service runs $19 per month with no contract and unlimited data, texting and calling. The carrier is poised to offer just one device, a Motorola Defy XT which will be sold outright for $249.99, alongside a one time $10 start-up fee. Sure, it’s not the most appealing handset, but at such a low price point it could prove to be the most viable option for those looking for an economic-friendly option.
So, what do you guys think?
Source: Republic Wireless


text: Hot dog lovers take note: you might not be able to add ketchup next time you enjoy a footlong.Ketchup, the tomato-based condiment that many people smother on their hot dogs, french fries, and even eggs, is in short supply.Much like toilet paper, disinfecting wipes, and hand sanitizer, ketchup is the latest item to face a shortage due to the pandemic.Why is there a ketchup shortage?If you have been to a restaurant in the last year, you might have noticed that items like salt and pepper shakers or bottles of ketchup are no longer at the tables. That’s because the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) suggested that restaurants "avoid using or sharing items that are reusable, such as menus, condiments, and any other food containers.”Instead, the CDC promoted using single-serving condiments. And, since many restaurants turned to offering take-out during the COVID pandemic, individual ketchup packets have become a hot commodity. And those packets are pricey.According to the Wall Street Journal, ketchup packet prices jumped 13 percent since January.Even popular fast-food chains are feeling the pinch. Representatives with Long John Silver’s told WSJ they had to find secondary suppliers to fill their ketchup coffers. They estimate that the switch to packets could cost an extra $500K this year.Ketchup consumption is on the rise.Research firm Euromonitor estimates that about 300,000 tons of ketchup were sold to the foodservice industry last year, making it the most popular condiment used in U.S. restaurants. Those eating at home during the pandemic spent over $1 billion on ketchup in 2020.Kraft Heinz Co. is the leader when it comes to ketchup, with about 70 percent of all ketchup sales in the country, the Journal reported.Heinz representative Steve Cornell says the company is ramping up supply and plans to open two new manufacturing lines in April with more to follow. The company estimates it will produce an additional 12 billion packets this year. A no-touch ketchup dispenser is also in the works.Restaurant owner Chris Fuselier says he is worried about customers not having ketchup for their french fries.To make matters worse, sometimes unused packets end up in the trash, either intentionally by ketchup haters or by accidentally being left in the takeout bag.Twitter is full of hilarious tweets about the perplexing ketchup crisis.Meanwhile, Twitter was abuzz with people commenting on how the shortage has affected them. Jeff Kleinman, an editor at the Miami Herald, offered a packet of Hunt’s ketchup to the highest bidder.“Just heard there is a ketchup packet shortage due to all the pandemic takeout people are ordering. Time to search the drawers. Ooh, found one! How much?” Kleinman tweeted.“The ketchup shortage might explain why the last time I got take-out that requires ketchup it was a total off-brand I’ve never hear of… not even Hunts,” tweeted WSJ reporter Katie Honan.Apparently, the shortage isn’t new. Last July, CNN reported a deficit in individual condiment packets of ketchup, mustard, and salt was expected because of the increase in take-out orders.


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Venezuela's inflation in December up 3.5%; ends at 20.1% in 2012
The food sector recorded the largest raise in prices during the last month of 2012 as it grew 5.7%. Shortage, meanwhile, reached its highest point ever since early 2008, at 16.3%
The BCV said that inflation throughout 2012 stood at 20.1%, slightly higher than the number estimated by the central bank president (19.9%) in his year-end message.
The sector with the largest rise was food prices (up 5.7%). Transportation climbed by 3.3%, while clothing and footwear, and restaurants and hotels jumped 3.1%. Leisure and culture increased by 2.7%.
Regarding the shortage index in the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, the central bank said it increased to 16.3% in December – the highest level since January 2008, when shortage hit its highest level ever at 24.7%.
No pellets, tear gas or 9mm firearm projectiles were enough. Several unpublished videos confirm what some witnesses had already warned in the very afternoon of February 12: that day, the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) shot a different type of bullets whose ammunition shells were picked up by the very officers who triggered the weapons.


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EA Sports revealed the first details of their next FIFA title with a brand new trailer featuring the HyperMotion technology for FIFA 22.
New Gameplay Technology
The new gameplay technology powered by HyperMotion will include a brand new goalkeeper system fully rewritten, true ball physics, explosive sprint and new attacking tactics! The new HyperMotion technology will allow full team authentic motions thanks to the capture of 4000 new animations in FIFA 22. This feature will be available ONLY on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Google Stadia! For more details on this topic please check this post.
FIFA 22 Career Mode
Although most of the FIFA 22 features will be revealed in August, EA Sports announced today the return of Create-A-Club feature in Career Mode and an overhauled Player Career Mode! No other details have been shared but we expect more news on this amazing mode soon.
FIFA 22 Pro Clubs
Luckily this year, EA Sports gave more attention to Pro Clubs in FIFA 22 by announcing new customisation options for your club, a new player growth system and streamlined social play that will make it easier to find your next online game.
FIFA 22 Ultimate Team
Not much has been revealed on EA’s beloved moneymaker except for a redesigned Division Rivals and FUT Champions and the arrival of a brand new type of cards called FUT Heroes. Although previously leaked, EA confirmed that these new cards will feature some of football’s most memorable players like Mario Gomez, Robbie Keane or Diego Milito and they will link in FUT 22 thanks to their nation and league.
Not the most popular game mode in FIFA but EA Sports announced that the mode will receive “more flair” in FIFA 22 and more player customisations. A new arena will also be included in the next FIFA installment.
New Player Faces & Tattoos
Following the release of today’s news, EA Sports also published a few in-game screenshots where we had the opportunity to see players with new or updated faces and in some cases with body tattoos as well! From all the released media files we can confirm that next players had their faces updated in FIFA 22:
- David Alaba (Real Madrid)
- Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
- Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)
- Reece James (Chelsea)
- Christian Pulisic + Tattoos (Chelsea)
- Roberto Firmino + Tattos (Liverpool)
- Luis Suarez + Tattoos (Atletico Madrid)
- Ederson + Tattoos (Manchester City)
- Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
- Marco Verratti + Tattoos (PSG)
- Luka Modric + Strand Hair (Real Madrid)
- Eder Militao + Strand Hair (Real Madrid)
#FIFA22 screenshots featuring new face updates for:
– David Alaba ✅
– Jude Bellingham ✅
– Erling Haaland ✅
– Reece James ✅
– Christian Pulisic + Tattoos ✅
– Roberto Firmino + Tattoos ✅ pic.twitter.com/ar2iL8bfG6
— FIFA Infinity (@FIFA_Infinity) July 11, 2021
Will FIFA 22 be Next Gen on PC?
Unfortunately, no. FIFA 22 will remain old gen on PC and will run on the same Frostbite engine, same as Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The news wasn’t welcomed by the PC community and EA stated in regard that “It’s something being explored for the future, we’re still early in the transition to next-gen and right now the team is focused on making the best, quality experience on new consoles before looking to upgrade other platforms.”
There’s no excuse for FIFA 22 Next-Gen not being available on PC with today’s available hardware. This is only a marketing decision in order to sell PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles.


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-The new plant of German auto parts maker Kostal in Pazardzhik leads the ranking
Construction orders, energy sector upswing and blossoming industry: these are the main drivers of the strong performance of the most dynamically growing companies in the ranking by Capital newspaper. The TOP50 list of the most dynamic companies in 2018 is dominated by construction companies, which occupy more than one-fifth of the places in the ranking. Fuel and electricity traders, as well as manufacturing companies, also have a strong presence. One of them ranks first, the new automotive components factory of Germany's Kostal near Pazardzhik which started working in 2017.
No doubt, 2018 was definitely a good year for the most dynamic companies, as their turnover rose on average by 65.7%, a significant leap compared to the increase of the previous two years, 46% and 47%. The average rate of revenue growth of the TOP100 and the TOP300 largest companies by revenue in Bulgaria in 2018 was 9.1% and 8.4%, respectively.
While the European economy is starting to cool off, the revenue growth rates in the first echelon of Bulgarian companies remain high largely due to rising prices of oil and some metals.
For yet another year, the ranking of the 50 fastest growing businesses is dominated by companies occupying positions from 201st to 300th in the ranking by Capital which analyzes data from the financial statements of more than 300 companies. There are 28 of them in TOP50, compared to 19 in the ranking for 2017. The last 100 of the 300 largest companies by revenue grew their revenue by 9.2% in 2018.
There are 13 representatives of the second 100 of the 300 largest companies in Bulgaria among the TOP50 most dynamically growing ones. The companies occupying the places from 101st to 200th report the lowest average growth of their revenue among the 300 in 2018, of 5.2%. The number of companies from the TOP100 group among the most dynamically growing 50 shrank to nine from 16 in the ranking for 2017.
The threshold for finding a place among the most dynamic 50, however, continues to rise. To enter the group of those most dynamic, in 2018 a company needed to increase its revenue by at least 29.6%. By comparison, in the ranking for 2017 the threshold stood at 28.7%, while a year earlier a revenue growth rate of 19.8% was enough.
Aside from the tangibly better average score, the ranking of the most dynamic businesses in 2018 is also impressive by the record number of companies that have achieved three-digit growth rates for their revenue - a total of 15. The previous best achievement was in 2010 when 13 companies grew their revenues at triple-digit speeds. Among them were Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH), established in 2008, which brought together the state-owned energy companies, as well as KMB Bulgaria that entered the local market in 2009 (and went bankrupt in 2017), which owned Carrefour's stores in the country.
In the ranking of the most dynamic 50 companies for 2018, there is only one whose three-digit revenue growth comes after a start from zero, that is, after just a year of work on the local market. This is Kostal Bulgaria Automotive of Germany's Kostal. The company's new production plant in the city of Pazardzhik started operations in August 2017, following an investment of 12 million euro. In 2018, its revenues reached 164.5 million levs, rising by 329% compared to a year earlier, which makes the company leader in terms of revenue growth in 2018.
In the ranking for 2017, similar examples were the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange launched in 2016, textile company Lempriere Wool which opened a factory in Sliven in the same year and Tradenet Varna company, established in late 2015, during which year Vesselin Mareshki developed his low-cost fuel chain VM Petroleum. In this year's ranking, the Bulgarian subsidiary of Australia's Lempriere group and VM Petroleum are again among the most dynamically growing companies but sit in the back row.
Most of the companies that show a sustained three-digit growth rate from 2016 to 2018 have been working in the local market for a longer time. And three of them - PSIs, occupying the second place in TOP 50 of the most dynamic companies (with 202.5% revenue growth in 2018), Miks-Construction and NIKMI - the three-digit speed was maintained for a second straight year. Apart from the sustained leaps, the other common thing between them is that all three are representatives of the construction sector. Their impressive results over the past two years, together with the three-digit growth rates reported by Markan and European Roads (formerly Roads Plovdiv) in 2018, are indicative of one of the main trends of the past year - the surge of the construction sector.
The boom in the sector, especially in its infrastructure segment, has been supported mostly by public procurement assignments worth hundreds of millions of levs, mainly financed by European Union funds. This explains why the main group of 13 representatives of the construction industry among the most dynamic 50 is composed of companies having infrastructure construction as their main line of business.
The top-three group of the most intensively booming ones is complemented by BEH, whose revenue rose by 135%. This rate of growth which is impressive for a giant of the scale of the state holding is due to an extraordinary additional dividend of 330 million levs withdrawn by BEH from Kozloduy nuclear power plant and the Electricity System Operator. The dividend was used to cover the huge costs of coal-fired power plant Maritsa East 2 for CO2 emissions.
Even more stories of growth
Traditionally, in recent years a stable group of manufacturing companies has been ranked among the most dynamic. Besides the leader in the indicator, Kostal Bulgaria Automotive, there are seven more representatives of the Machinery and Equipment sector in the ranking for 2018. The curious thing is that three of them are bicycle manufacturers - Maxcom and Leader-96, both based in Plovdiv, as well as Montana-based Cross. The key to their strong performance is the thriving production of electric bicycles and the growing demand for such models in Europe. Curbs on Chinese dumping imports in the sector, in force since January last year, also contributed to their robust showing.
In the group of dynamically growing companies, there are also manufacturers such as Transvagon (freight wagons), BTL Industries (physiotherapy equipment), Melexis Bulgaria (chips and sensors for the automotive industry) and Datex (fiscal devices).
Electricity is underpinning the rise in the revenues of three more companies that have found their place among the 50 fastest growing businesses. These are the electricity traders Energy Market, whose ownership is associated with the ownership of Vidahim thermal power plant (TPP) and Svilosa TPP; Grand Energy Distribution, which is the largest company in the orbit of businessman Hristo Kovachki; and CEZ Trade Bulgaria, a subsidiary of Czech energy group CEZ. An important factor for the improvement of their results is the higher market price of electricity on the energy exchange which is already operating at full swing.
Three companies entered the top 50 ranking thanks to fuel retailer Lukoil Bulgaria. Since last year, the Russian owner has changed its distribution policy and is currently working only with three wholesalers in Bulgaria - Saksa, Bent Oil and Litex. As a result, the revenues of the three wholesalers rose considerably. The largest growth in this sector was achieved by fuel trader Lukoil Bulgaria Bunker which is supplying fuel to ships - its turnover increased by over 80% last year.
Surprisingly, among the curious examples of three-digit growth in 2018 is the Center for Urban Mobility, the municipal company selling tickets and cards for travel on Sofia public transport and operating the public paid parking zones in the city. Its revenues jumped by almost 120% to 111 million levs due to a change in accounting policy. A higher growth rate will be reported for 2019 as the company will receive about 120 million levs in revenue from sales of travel cards and tickets plus a subsidy of the same amount. With the revenues from parking fees, the total revenue of the company will exceed 260 million levs.
The one-off effect of the sale of intangible assets explains the sharp increase of the revenues of Progress Software (previously known as Telerik) by more than 120% to nearly 206 million levs. Thanks to this transaction, the company climbs to the top of the ranking in the software sector. Without the one-off effect of the sale Progress Software would have taken the third position with about 100 million levs of core business revenue.
Tobacco company Philip Morris Bulgaria, whose turnover increased by 108% to over 153 million levs in 2018, is also part of the elite group of companies with three-digit growth rates. The success story is probably the company's smokeless IQOS product and the heated tobacco units for it. According to the company's own estimate, some 150 000 people in Bulgaria have started using the product since its presentation at the end of 2017.


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Amazon.com will let copyright holders opt out of having their books read aloud on the company's Kindle 2 book reader.
Alaska Airlines has begun a trial of in-flight Wi-Fi.
A proposed U.S. law would require ISPs and possibly Wi-Fi router owners to store information about every user on their networks for two years.
Microsoft plans to open its own retail stores to "transform the PC and Microsoft buying experience."
The nonprofit National Safety Council on Monday called on all U.S. states to ban the use of cell phones while driving.
ComScore said U.S. online spending during this year's holiday season fell 3 percent, the first year-over-year drop since it began tracking e-commerce in 2001.
Apple’s stock fell, then rebounded, after a Gizmodo report that CEO Steve Jobs bowed out of next week’s Macworld Expo keynote because of declining health.
The FCC plans to revise a rule mandating backup power for cellular networks.
AT&T is eying Symbian as a possible single OS for its future smart phones.
Virgin America’s in-flight Wi-Fi service will launch on Monday for a beta test that is intended to last just one week before a planned commercial launch Dec. 1.
AT&T is capping the monthly bandwidth use of new DSL users in Reno, Nevada, to try out a system for reining in heavy network users.
Lower-income U.S. consumers are flocking to Apple’s iPhone, according to research company ComScore Mobile.
Applications are leading games in downloads from Google's Android Market.
The success of the iPhone and the emergence of new players (like the forthcoming Android phones) has motivated mobile carriers to give some ground when it comes to creating and selling mobile applications.
Hewlett-Packard will lay off about 24,600 employees over the next three years in an effort to streamline the company following...


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The term “sex tourism” is a buzzword in the travel industry.
But is it a real trade?
We spoke to experts to find out.
Read more: The sex tourism industry is booming in ThailandThe sex tourism trade in AsiaSex tourism is not only popular with wealthy Chinese tourists but also other travelers.
“The sex industry is flourishing,” says Yannick Beaulieu, president of the international trade body for sex tourism.
“Sex tourism can be a big part of the tourism industry in Asia.”
A lot of the sex tourists are from the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam.
Many of the people who come to Thailand for sex have never visited Thailand before, he says.
And most of the hotels and restaurants that cater to sex tourism are owned by Thai companies, so they have a lot of connections.
Most sex tourists in Thailand have no plans to return to the Philippines.
“It’s not a real destination,” says Beauliu.
“They just come here because of the beautiful beaches and the great people.”
What do sex tourists want?
Sex tourism often comes down to money, says Beulieu.
Many sex tourists go for the best deals, while others will be looking for the ultimate experience.
Beaulieu says sex tourism is growing in Thailand because there are more tourists who want to spend their money on exotic activities.
“We are seeing more people from the developing world coming to Thailand,” he says, “so people are looking for a better life and they want to see the world, and the sex industry can be part of that.”
How much does sex tourism cost in Thailand?
The cost of a trip to Thailand varies depending on the destination, but sex tourists typically get between $15 and $20 per hour.
Some sex tourists pay more, but many sex tourists only travel for an hour.
Beulieu says the cost of an hour’s stay in a hotel is around $40, and some hotels charge between $200 and $500 for a one-night stay.
Sex tourists will typically travel for a minimum of three to five nights.
How much sex tourism do I need to visit Thailand?
Sex tourists usually need to book a stay at least two weeks in advance, or they may need to make reservations for a day or two.
They can book online or at Thai hotels, but some hotels are not open 24 hours.
Sex tourism is most common in the north of the country, but travellers are also frequenting parts of the south.
If you want to book, be sure to make an appointment beforehand.
Beaulie says sex tourists will usually wait until they are in Thailand before going out for sex.
“They don’t want to get too drunk and they don’t like to go out late at night,” he explains.
Beauulieu suggests that sex tourism will not stop if the destination is closed.
“If you are going to be staying in a certain location, and there is no way to leave and go somewhere else, that’s not going to happen,” he advises.


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PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Locally owned businesses at Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market are changing up their lineups as the Eagles continue to soar.
"Everyone who has a sweet tooth loves the churros," said, Jaida Donners, the manager at El Merkury.
It's a five-step process to make the Eagles-themed churros at El Merkury. They're ready for demand to pick up on Saturday before the NFC Conference Championship game Sunday.
"Everyone seems to love it. Everyone loves the Birds," said Donners.
Adding to the sugar rush, customers at Termini Brothers Bakery have the option of a chocolate crumb cake and vanilla cupcakes, which are baked with Eagles spirit and a little bit of hope.
"We're really excited for them to be playing, hopefully they're going to be going to the Super Bowl," said Julia Majerscak, an employee at Termini Brothers Bakery.
Employees over at Mueller Chocolate Company are adding to the hype with Eagles chocolate pops and foiled chocolate footballs. They too have a Super Bowl run on their minds.
"I was here back in 2017, so I got to experience all the insanity, the good insanity," said David Thomas, an employee at the Mueller Chocolate Company.
If you want to change things up, but still buy local, head over to the Pennsylvania General Store on the other side of the market.
They're seeing a huge uptick in interest for Eagles merchandise selling everything from t-shirts, to gift baskets with food and Eagles-themed books for kids.
"Even if you're not able to make it out here to the store, you can shop our website pageneralstore.com and even ship nationally," said Ingrid Gendall-Conrad of the Pennsylvania General Store.
Employees at Famous 4th Street Cookies said they represent for the Eagles no matter what, baking cookies and decorating cookie cakes for the big game.
"Haven't missed a game this season," said April Fendick, manager at Famous 4th Street Cookies. "Reading Terminal is family-owned businesses, so I think everyone supports our local team."
Business owners said they will be ready over the weekend, especially on Saturday before the big game.